


Fearful Encounters

by jaybird_elliott2020



Series: Son of Robin [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Jason Todd, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anxious Jason Todd, Anxious Tim Drake, Damian is Tim's Son, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Omega Damian Wayne, Omega Tim Drake, Past Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Teen Pregnancy, Protective Mom Tim Drake, Protective Tim Drake, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Toddler Damian Wayne, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25402105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaybird_elliott2020/pseuds/jaybird_elliott2020
Summary: Jason and Tim must navigate the perils of being in a new relationship while Tim's five-year-old son struggles to cope with his memories of the past and fear of his father.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Series: Son of Robin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839805
Comments: 5
Kudos: 283





	Fearful Encounters

Tim stood outside the bedroom door.

Damian had fallen asleep hours ago, but Tim found himself unable to leave him. It took an hour just to get him out of Damian’s bed. It took another hour to get out the door. He didn’t like leaving his son alone. If he couldn’t see him, he might not be safe.

A warm presence came up suddenly behind him and Tim bristled but tried not to let whoever was intruding know he knew they were there. It wasn’t until large arms wrapped smoothly around his waist that Tim caught a whiff of the calm hickory scent of alpha. The hints of honey and lavender of _his alpha_.

“He’s ok,” Jason hummed, mouthing at Tim’s neck.

Tim nodded. “I know that,” he said, like Jason wouldn’t believe him unless he answered two ways.

“I know you do,” Jason whispered. “Open the door, my love.”

Tim did, twisting the handle slowly and cracking it before the hinges could squeak and possibly disturb the sleeping toddler.

“See?” Jason assured him. “Perfect little demon baby.”

Tim smacked him lightly on the back of his folded hands. Jason knew if they were anywhere else, Tim would have hit harder and thrown in some explicates for good measure. But they were outside his son’s room.

“I told you to stop calling him that,” Tim whispered. “He doesn’t like it.”

“He knows I love him,” Jason reminded. “I tell him every day. Demon spawn is a term of endearment for us.”

“When he starts shooting people to say hello, then I’m coming for you, Todd,” Tim reminded, in the same playful tone Jason wore.

Jason snickered into Tim’s neck.

“Can we go to your room?” Jason asked, mouthing a bit more roughly against his neck.

Tim sighed contently when Jason’s lips pushed into that tender spot under his ear. He nodded eagerly.

They gave each other a quick kiss and Tim ran off to their bedroom while Jason closed Damian’s door silently.

Jason was almost to Tim’s bedroom after when the door he had just closed, opened again.

“Mommy?” Damian’s small developing voice whined.

Jason sighed and turned to see his boyfriend’s son standing in the doorway of his bedroom, dragging his favorite stuffed dog behind him.

The baby was rubbing his eyes and whimpering, when he finally saw Jason standing there instead of his mother.

“Hey buddy,” Jason hummed, walking to the little boy and kneeling in front of him. “What’s the matter?”

Damian shook his head and clutched his dog to his chest as a barrier between him and the alpha.

“Mommy,” he declared. His eyes were holding back tears.

“Mommy’s gettin’ in bed, sweetie, wanna tell me what’s the matter?” Jason asked.

“No,” Damian pouted. “Want my mommy!”

“Hey, hey, calm down bud,” Jason soothed. He tried scenting Damian softly, but that seemed to only make his distress worse. It’s when he reaches out that Damian startles him.

“Stop that!” Damian cried out. “MOMMY! MOMMY!”

Tim came rushing out of the bedroom to see Jason kneeling in front of his son while he cried. He leapt between him and Jason and gathered the crying baby into his arms.

“Shh,” Tim sang out, shuffling them into Damian’s room and slamming the door in Jason’s face.

Jason let out a huff and went to sit on the couch.

His phone rang in his pocket, alerting him to a robbery in progress in Batman’s territory. Bruce was out of town for the week and had somehow convinced Jason to cover for him.

Jason wrote Tim a quick note and left.

~ ~ ~

Tim was rocking Damian, trying to stop his crying.

Damian had been very sensitive to smells lately, especially alpha smell. He himself was an omega and so was Tim, and they hardly ever saw the rest of the family these days and most of them were betas or omegas (with Bruce being an older alpha with a very subdued scent). But whenever they were out shopping or at the park or even at a gala with Bruce, Damian would cry at the slightest shift in alpha scent.

Tim was trying to help him through it, trying to get him comfortable being around alphas (not too comfortable, because Tim still worried). He would get Bruce to come over and leave as much scent behind as possible or let Jason scent him while on patrol just to introduce Damian to the smell with no negative connotations. He didn’t seem to mind. He also _liked_ Jason. Damian didn’t _like_ anyone except Tim and Alfred the Cat.

For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the baby.

“What’s the matter, Dami?” Tim asked.

Damian sniffled and clung tighter to his mother’s neck, nuzzling into his scent glad.

Tim released as calming of a scent as he could, with slight hints of distress naturally bleeding into it, which Damian didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Tim hummed, rubbing Damian’s back. “Don’t worry. You don’t gotta talk about it. Just take some breaths, huh? Like mommy.” Tim took a dramatic inhale and held it until Damian followed suit then let out a dramatic exhale. They continued for a minute or so, breathing ‘loud’ (as Damian would call it) before Damian calmed himself. “Good boy.”

Damian sniffled a few more times before he stopped crying completely. Once he did, Tim set him down in bed again. He sat next to him and rubbed his back, continuing to soothe him.

“Wanna talk now, baby?” Tim asked, slowing down the circles he was drawing with his finger.

“The scary man took you again,” Damian whimpered, curling around his stuffed dog tightly. (Tim thinks his name was Jack at that point, but he could never keep up.)

“Oh baby,” Tim stuttered, his own eyes tearing up. He gathered Damian into his arms again. “I’m here, baby, I’m here. No one’s taking me.”

“Jason looked like the scary man,” Damian explained. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay,” Tim hushed, pushing Damian’s head into his scent glad.

He felt that terrible knot in his stomach. _The scary man_. Damian had been talking about his father again. He didn’t know it and Tim thought he didn’t need to. But also … he looked like Jason? Tim hadn’t thought so, but now he wasn’t sure.

“Mommy?” Damian said, sounding more subdued. “Can I sleep in your bed with you and Jason?”

“Of course,” Tim said.

He carried his son into his bedroom but they found his bed empty. No Jason. A little part of him was relieved and another felt guilty about how relieved he was.

“Alright my little warrior,” Tim sang, setting Damian in the middle of the bed, “settle in and I’ll get you a glass of milk.”

Damian nodded and shimmied between Tim and Jason’s pillows, pulling a soft blanket of over his tiny body.

“Be right back, bedbug,” Tim assured.

“Ok Mommy.”

~ ~ ~

Tim found Jason’s note on the counter.

_Babybird (and Dami),_

_Sorry to dine and dash. Robbery in Chinatown. Be home late. Don’t wait up._

_\--J_

It was impersonal and only mildly upsetting. Tim crumpled it up and tossed it out before assembling a sippy cup of milk for Damian.

~ ~ ~

Jason didn’t come back to Tim’s apartment for two weeks.

They didn’t see each other on patrol, they didn’t text or call, or work any coinciding cases.

Tim busied himself with work and cases and Damian (who was three other jobs in and of himself). He tried not to think about Jason.

“Will you please eat your green beans?” Tim begged his five-year-old demon baby.

Damian had defiantly spit out the last couple spoonfuls Tim had tried to shove down his throat. Usually Jason was a magician with Damian and got him to eat anything he put in front of him. Tim had no such luck but was determined to feed his own son by himself. He was mad at Jason. Jason ghosted them. Jason ghosted Damian.

“NO!” Damian spat, sticking his tongue out and spiting bit of chewed up green bean on his face. 

“Alright fine,” Tim grunted, tossing the spoon on the plate. “Time-out then.”

“NO!” Damian wailed, kicking his feet and wriggling away as his mother pulled him out of his booster seat. “NO MOMMY NO!”

“Damian!” Tim warned, glaring at Damian to show he was serious. The little boy still pouted but he stopped kicking.

“Stop! Stop!” Damian whined loudly, chirping in that way he knew got on Tim’s nerves.

Tim sat him in the corner of the living room specially designated for Damian’s “cool-down time.”

“Five minutes,” Tim said.

Damian huffed and crossed his arms, face turned from the wall but body still in correct position. Tim knew he was testing boundaries. Seeing how much he could really get away with, but God did it work Tim’s last nerve. He didn’t sleep right. He drank too much coffee. He worked himself to death. And now he had a defiant toddler on his hands.

Tim started cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen, leaving Damian’s plate of cold mushy green beans on the table for him to return to when he calmed himself down.

“Mommy?” Damian whimpered loudly enough for Tim to hear a room away.

Tim sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Damian,” he said, turning. “Crying does not—” He’s cut off by a small yelp of fear and his son’s stressed scent.

Tim runs into the living room to see Jason standing in front of the open window, clutching his side.

“Sorry,” Jason grunted. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Damian to your room, now,” Tim ordered, rushing to Jason’s side and catching him before he fell to the floor.

“Mommy?” Damian sniffled.

“DAMIAN!” Tim barked, snarling at his son sternly.

Damian ran off to his bedroom while Tim helped Jason onto the couch.

“What happened?” Tim asked, getting up to retrieve the medical kit he kept in the chest by the door.

“Ah, not much,” Jason replied. “You should see the other guys. I really feel bad for whatever poor soul’s gotta clean _that_ up.”

“Jason, what did you do?” Tim barked, standing over him with the med kit clenched in his fists. “You’re in civvies! Who the hell were you beating up in civvies?!”

“Seriously, puddin’,” Jason assured him, “it’s nothing.”

Tim fell to his knees and jerked Jason’s shirt over his bleeding stomach, cleaning the wound of blood to establish best course of action.

“Doesn’t look like nothing,” Tim hissed under his breath, pushing a little too hard into the deep gash in Jason’s gut.

“Someone … some _nobody_ was talking about you,” Jason gritted. “About _both_ of you.”

Tim’s arm hairs raised. Surely _he_ wasn’t back in town? Surely Bruce would know. _Tim_ would know.

“Us?” Tim asked, trying to keep his voice from cracking.

“Yeah,” Jason said. “They didn’t even know you. Just some fuckin’ tabloid gossip. There’s a picture of you and Damian at Bruce’s charity gala last month. Everyone’s talking about the ‘Bruce Wayne is the father’ conspiracy again and these shitheads were calling you names. So, I beat the shit out of them until they stopped.”

“And one of them stabbed you? You? Jason Todd, the Red Hood, anti-hero of all anti-heroes? What were you trashed or something?” Tim teased, letting his nerves ease a little. Still would be calling Bruce to double check _he_ wasn’t in town, but less nervous about his son’s immediate safety.

“No,” was all Jason answered.

“No to getting stabbed or no you weren’t drunk?”

“Drunk, I wasn’t drunk,” Jason declared.

Tim started stitching Jason up.

“Then, what?”

“Fear toxin,” Jason said.

Tim stopped his hand.

“Did you—”  
  


“NO!” Jason sat forward a little too quickly and hissed at the tug on his stomach. “No. It happened a couple weeks ago. That night I left. When Damian was upset with me. That’s why I haven’t been around. The effects are still … lingering.”

Tim sat back on his heels. “Oh.”

“Yeah, sorry I haven’t called, I’ve been a little … on edge.”

“You could have come to me,” Tim said, looking a bit more defeated.

“I wouldn’t,” Jason declared. “I wouldn’t put you and Damian in danger like that. As long as I’m afraid, I’m not safe.”

Tim wanted to argue with him, say that none of that mattered, that he knew Jason would never hurt them, but he couldn’t bring himself to say he would risk the safety of his son for him. Because the truth was he would throw everyone else in the world into a fiery volcano, Jason included, if it meant Damian was safe.

“You shouldn’t be putting yourself in dangerous situation then. Or ghosting us! You know that’s not safe for us either,” Tim reminded. “You can’t be with me if you’re going to disappear for weeks at a time. It’s not good for my son. It’s not good for me.”

Jason nodded. “I’m sorry. I want to be here, Tim. I do. I just don’t want you to be hurting if I’m around.”

Tim caught that.

“Are you talking about Damian?” Tim asked. “About that night he cried when you scented him?”  
  


Jason darted his gaze to the floor beside Tim.

“It is? Jason,” Tim was ready to chastise him, ready to yell at him about being an idiot and letting the fickle emotions of a _baby_ get to him enough he was ready to sabotage their relationship. He is diffused by Jason’s clenching his eyes shut and crying.

“I’m sorry,” Jason whispered quickly so the well didn’t seep into his voice.

“Jason,” Tim hummed, reaching out and brushing the tears away with his thumb.

“He looked so hurt,” Jason cried. “I don’t ever want him to look at me like that. Like I might hurt him.”

“He’s only a baby,” Tim reminded gently, “he still only understands _I’m_ safe. You weren’t there for the first few years. God he’s only really _known_ you for a year. You have to let him learn to trust you. Be patient with him, he’ll be patient with you.”

“I only want to help,” Jason said.

Tim nodded. “I know, Jay, but he was tired and upset and wanted his mom, that’s ok. We all miss our moms I think, even grown up.”

Jason nodded and took some deep breaths and dried his face.

“He’s been asking about you,” Tim said gently, slowly resuming Jason’s stitches.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Especially when it’s around meals. Like we wake up in the morning and he asks where Jay is. He missed those pancakes you make him. He says mine don’t taste right. And dinner too. He doesn’t eat his green beans because I don’t feed them to him the same way you do. You mean a lot to him. You just aren’t _fully_ there yet. But it’ll happen.”

Tim tied off the stitches and secured them with a bandage.

“All better,” he declared.

“Thanks doc,” Jason said.

“Anytime. Just don’t scare my kid like that again.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Not me. Him.” Tim pointed to the little figure peering out of Tim’s bedroom. Jason looked from Damian to Tim, questioning him silently. “It’s ok. Call him over.”

Jason turned back to Damian and waved him to the couch.

Damian listened and dragged his feet to where his mother was kneeling in front of Jason. He hung his head and looked at socks like they were the most fascinating thing in the room.

“You got hurt?” Damian asked.

“Yeah bud,” Jason said. “Hey, I’m all good now though. Wanna know why?”

“Why?” Damian questioned, looking up with a cocked head at Jason.

“’Cuz your mommy is a wizard.”

Damian’s eyes widened and he looked to Tim for confirmation. Tim nodded in agreement.

“It’s true Damian,” Tim confirmed.

Damian let a big smile creep across his face. “Cool,” he muttered.

Jason shifted forward slowly and held out his hand. “Come sit with me little man.”

Damian nodded and took Jason’s hand, letting himself be pulled onto the couch next to Jason. Tim climbed up as well and settled in on the other side of Damian, reaching his arm around him to place a comforting hand on Jason’s back.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Jason said, looking down on Damian. Damian bowed his head and pulled his knees to his chest. “Hey, none of that,” Jason said. “ _I’m_ sorry I scared you. I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately. I’m … I’m just sorry, little man.”

Damian nodded his head. “I missed you,” he mumbled.

Jason wrapped his arm around the toddler and pulled him gently into his side. “I missed you too,” he admitted, just quiet enough for Damian to hear.

The three of them curled around each other, Jason using his large arm to pull Tim close and Tim gathering his son into his lap. They laid there for a long time, just holding on. Jason knew this was the beginning of something. Of something good.


End file.
